In Europe and the U.S. 175 hazardous chemicals in food packaging are being used intentionally, even though they're known for their human health risks, finds a study conducted by the Food Packaging Forum.

In Europe and the U.S. 175 hazardous chemicals in food packaging are being used intentionally, even though they’re known for their human health risks, finds a study conducted by the Food Packaging Forum.

Food packaging, including cans, foils, paper, plastics and other containers for processed, packaged foods release synthetic substances into foods for as long as they are in contact, said the study, which was published in the journal Food Additives and Contaminants, Part A.

Many of these chemicals in food packaging are already classified as “carcinogenic, mutagenic, or reprotoxic,” Food Safety News reports. “Others are considered to interfere with the hormone system, the so-called endocrine disruptors. A third group of chemicals is considered persistent and bioaccumulative.”

The study researchers compared established inventories of hazardous chemicals with databases listing packaged food contact substances, reports Food Safety News. “Among the 175 chemicals of concern are substances causing cancer or inflicting changes on the genes. Others affect an organism’s ability to reproduce, or they act as endocrine disruptors interfering with hormone signaling. In addition, the list contains toxic chemicals that accumulate in the environment or the human body.

“Phthalates, which are widely used as plasticizers, are one prominent example for endocrine-disrupting chemicals that may lead to male infertility, genital malformations and cancer. Benzophenones and organotin compounds add to the list of endocrine-disrupting chemicals used in printing inks and coatings of food contact materials.”

And the study authors noted that these substances in food packaging are “certainly undesirable and also unexpected,” particularly as they are being “intentionally used in food contact materials,” they noted, adding, “chemicals with highly toxic properties may legally be used in the production of food contact materials, but not in other consumer products such as computers, textiles and paints even though exposure through food contact materials may be far more relevant.”

European regulations put the majority of the chemicals under the criteria of its “Substances of Very High Concern” rating, reports Food Safety News.

A recent investigation conducted byFood Safety Newsfound that USDA inspections of foreign meat imports to the U.S. have declined by more than 60 percent since 2008.

Additionally, the agency’s transparency has waned in recent years as well, failing to “make audit reports public in a timely fashion.” According to the investigation, as much as 17 percent of the U.S. food supply is imported from more than 30 countries, but “From 2009 to 2012, however, the number of countries audited annually dropped to between 3 and 20.”

According to Food Safety News: “So far in 2012, the agency has completed 10 audits, but the agency began auditing Canada on Oct. 22, so presumably that brings the total to 11. FSIS officials would not say how many more audits, if any, were scheduled through the end of the calendar year.

“As of Monday [October 29, 2012], FSIS had not posted audit reports for all of the countries it audited in 2010, nor had it posted any information about which countries were audited in 2011 and 2012, telling Food Safety News that the reports were still under review. Sometime in 2009 the agency also stopped including plant audits in the reports posted online. On Wednesday, the agency updated its foreign audit page to include a handful of draft country audit reports as well as notes about which audit reports are still pending.”

The report comes on the heels of two Bloomberg Markets reports that found scores of seafood imports from countries including Vietnam and China that were contaminated with pig feces, and another citing the decline of agency-conducted safety inspections within the U.S.

Earlier this week, Food Safety News revealed a startling investigation surrounding the import of Asian honey, much of which has tested positive for antibiotics and heavy metals, and although is banned in countries throughout Europe, is finding its way onto shelves in U.S. supermarkets.

Earlier this week, Food Safety News revealed a startling investigation surrounding the import of Asian honey, much of which has tested positive for antibiotics and heavy metals, and although is banned in countries throughout Europe, is finding its way onto shelves in U.S. supermarkets.

According to the report, “some of the largest and most long-established U.S. honey packers are knowingly buying mislabeled, transshipped or possibly altered honey so they can sell it cheaper than those companies who demand safety, quality and rigorously inspected honey.”

The amount of contaminated honey dripping into the U.S. market is upwards of hundreds of millions of pounds, despite assurances by the FDA that the honey is safe, says the report. The corruption of quality is almost inconceivable, and includes routing toxic Chinese honey through India, relabeling and shuffling paperwork before shipping it to the U.S. Data received by investigators last week revealed that in just the last month, nearly 700,000 pounds of honey from China were shipped to India before coming to the U.S.

American beekeepers are currently capable of supplying just under half of all the honey needs for the U.S. market, with the rest of the honey over the last 18 months coming from a number of reliable sources in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Uruguay and Mexico. But the remaining 123 million pounds worth came from India and China, with 45 million pounds coming from India — a country that does not have the capacity to produce that much honey — and where traces of lead and illegal animal antibiotics were found to be excessive in honey samples refused by Europe. And, there have even been reports of honey made entirely without bees, but rather with artificial sweeteners, flavors, excessive filtration and processing.

Out of the 12 major honey importers in the U.S., experts interviewed by Food Safety News estimate that 4 to 5 represent the bulk of the honey laundering.